Tag: end days

What Should We Do Now?

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I just saw a video taken by a man driving down 5th Avenue in New York City.

If you aren’t familiar with 5th Avenue, it is where many of the high-priced retail stores are located, such as Tiffany and Co. The video showed block after block, on both sides of the street, with plywood over all the windows.

It looked like the houses I would see when driving through slums.

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I read about the Antifa movement, which professes to hate racism while practicing anarchy, and I believe that we all know those who cry out for justice do not practice injustice. But, still, it is happening and there are so many who are so blinded by their political beliefs that they can’t see what is happening. The world is coming to an end and these politically blinded idiots applaud those destroying the most wonderful things about this country.

So, what can we do? My answer is this: nothing.

That’s right, there is nothing we can do about it except protect ourselves and make an effort to tell everyone we care about that if they aren’t right with God and Messiah, to get their tuchas in gear because the fecal matter is about to hit the air circulation unit. And all this tsouris we are seeing, this political and social mishigas, is just the beginning.

It won’t get better until after it gets worse.

Don’t believe me? Think I am one of those nutcases who screams, “REPENT!! The end is near!!”  Well, you’re right, because that is exactly what I am doing (sans waving a sign in one hand and a Bible in the other.)

I read the Bible, I read what the Prophets tell us God told them would happen, I read what Yeshua warned us would be the starting signs, and I read Revelation.

(I still have no idea what most of Revelation is about, but I know enough of it to recognize what is happening.)

I see so many people posting about how we should pray for peace, but I think it would be better to accept that this is God’s plan for the world and pray instead for a quick resolution to these days, and also for a speedy return of the Messiah.

I hate what I see happening to my country, to our system of government, to people of all races, and to the world, in general. People are being led to their own destruction, and on the way, they are cheering about it. Political opposition has reached the point where those who are responsible for making the laws are paying people to break the laws for their own agenda, which is (in and of itself) treasonous.

Anarchists are spreading violence, civil injustice, and social unrest across our nation, and it is spreading out of the cities and into the suburbs.  Soon we will be living in the apocalyptic world that we have only seen in movies and TV shows. There won’t be brain-eating zombies coming after us, but considering how brainlessly people have been acting, those zombies would starve, anyway.

Hmmm….since a zombie is already dead, can it actually starve to death?

Anyway, the thing that I am doing, and what I recommend others to do, is to protect myself. Not from germs or political opponents, but from physical harm and most of all, from the pandemic of stupidity and fear that is the real danger in the world, today.

Maintain your faith and know that this is not really social upheaval, racially motivated riots, or germ warfare (which, for the record, it is all of these things), but that this really is the beginning of God’s plan of redemption. It is the judgment of the nations God said would happen before the return of Messiah Yeshua.  We all need to realize this is not a religious rant but is a fact, and by accepting that be emotionally prepared for the rest of the tribulation that is yet to come.

The end IS near, much closer and more tangible than it has ever been before, and we need to get right with God and Messiah before it is too late. Pray not for peace, but for your family and friends who have not accepted Messiah and God’s instructions in the Torah, because they are the ones who will suffer the most.

The suffering of the righteous will be temporary, but the suffering of the unrighteous will be eternal, so let’s pray for them while they still have time.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe and check out my books, which can be found on the website.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Should We Pray for America?

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Before I start, let me inform those of you who may not know, I served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, 3 1/2 years active service and a year in the reserves, and because I served this country I have the right, as do all Americans, to talk about what is wrong with it.

And there is a lot wrong with it.

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We have kicked God out of our courtrooms and schools, (almost) made it a crime to pray in public, gone out of our way to prevent Godly worship because it offends those who reject and hate God, and our youth are not only ill-prepared for adulthood, but they are being taught anarchy and disrespect for authority by the very examples of authority within our culture -their teachers, professors, and political leaders.

Not to mention that in the very heart of our democracy we have elected officials who are against democracy, against Israel, and against the system of government that made this country the greatest example of freedom in the world.

Notice I said “made” not “makes”: we used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but today we are the land of the frightened and the home of the cowardly.

So should we pray for America?

I am sure most every person who professes to be a worshipper of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will say, “Yes, of course, we should!” because prayer is what we do when we need God to intervene.  But have you considered this: does God want to intervene? Maybe, just maybe, this is all part of God’s plan.

We read in the Tanakh about the Acharit HaYamim, the End Days, and in the book of Revelation, we are given the most detailed account of what to expect. Of course, there have been doomsday warners since the first report of doomsday, but I can’t help to think that we are really close this time.

Logically, since the End Days are still to come, every day brings us closer, but today there is so much distress, fear, and anxiety in the world that it seems ready to explode.

So, nu? Should we pray for God to intervene and save America? I say don’t bother because this is all part of what God has planned for us. He told us about it, he’s making it happen, and to pray for him to stop and change his mind is almost like refusing to cooperate.

Yes, I know Moses intervened for the Israelites, more than once, to ask God to change his mind about destroying the people, but this is different. They were a newly freed people who did not know their God; we have had thousands of years of God showing us who he is and what he wants us to do, so we don’t have that excuse.

The very last request being made of God in the Bible, which we find at the very end of the book of Revelation, is for Yeshua to come. I think just about everyone looks forward to that, but I also think too many ignore what must happen before he comes. That part no one wants to deal with, but it is here, now, and we have to deal with it.

I feel such sorrow for those who do not know the LORD, God, or Yeshua. My own people, the Jewish people, God’s chosen, have not really rejected Yeshua as much as they have been conditioned to reject anything about him. They have been taught to reject him, and as such, they don’t really reject him from knowledge but from training and conditioning.

But, to God and Yeshua, rejection is rejection, no matter what the reason, so I pray for my own people and my family, loved ones, and friends who do not know who Yeshua really is to be made aware of him before the shoe drops. That is why I have written the books I have written- so that people can make an informed decision about where they want to spend eternity.

The reason we are here, the reason we are given this time on earth, is to decide where we will spend eternity; and the time left to decide is running out.

So, if you want to pray for America, as far as I am concerned, don’t waste your time, or God’s, praying for peace or for relief from disease because we are past that point. However, you can pray for the repentance of the people. Ask God to spread a spirit of repentance, so that the people will realize what they have done, how they have rejected and disrespected God and his instructions to us, and for them to do T’shuvah, to turn from their sins.

Peace will not come to an unrepentant people, so if you want to pray, pray for America to repent, for that is the only way God will forgive us.

Learn the lesson from the book of Jonah: God relented of his destruction of Assyria only after they repented, truly repented, of their sins. America has become a sinful and Godless society, and until we change that we will not be spared the destruction that God will send to all who reject and deny him.

Personally, I don’t think America is going to get out of this one unscathed: God is taking aim, the safety is off and his finger is on the trigger. My friends, I really think the hammer is about to drop!

Thank you for being here, and sorry about the bad news I had to spread today. No one likes to talk about destruction, but if we don’t then aren’t we ignoring God’s warning?

Until next time, (God willing we are all still here)…L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

What I Did During My Summer Vacation

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I am back from a week in Ireland, having been on a bus with 27 other family members driving nearly 1,000 miles in 6 days, staying at 5 different hotels and spending a total of 16 hours on planes. OY!

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As we traveled, we saw so many farms, green pastures, and even the mountains (of which there are many) are green. There are cows and sheep, and the occasional horse; the amount of peaceful scenery is enough to lower your blood pressure.

Yet, underneath this bucolic scene is a roiling cauldron of hatred and distrust, left over from the bad feelings of what our guide called the “Troubled Times”, which was when the Northern Irelanders (Protestants) and the Republic of Ireland people (Catholics) were at war with each other.

And it was a war- in fact, it has been officially declared as a war.

Our guide, Murt, was from the Republic of Ireland and a Catholic, yet he was fair in his narrative of the atrocities that both sides caused.

The issue was not originally a religious one but was, in fact, a political separation. The English had taken possession of lands that had Irish living on them, and when that happened British landowners made the Irish people slaves forcing them to pay taxes, which paid the tax the landowners had to pay to the Crown. This tax was based on how many people were living on the land, so when things got tough, such as during times of famine, the Landowners would evict the people and destroy the houses so that they didn’t have to pay tax on them. In the meanwhile, with no house, land or source of income, the people being evicted would starve to death.

The religious issue came about because the British (Landowners) had separated from the Church of Rome while the indigenous Irish (tenant farmers) had not. The British were Protestant and the Irish were Catholic. This resulted in the Irish population being split into the Loyalists (Protestant Irish) and the Catholic Irish.

In other words, the real problem was the geopolitical separation of land-owners and tenant farmers but it was hidden under the guise of religious persecution by Protestants against Catholics. Everyone knew that it was really British rule in Ireland that was the root of this evil, but the thing that people focused on was Protestant against Catholic.

When I thought about this, I realized that the End Times will be the same thing, but the other way around.

In Ireland, politics was the cause but religion was what people focused on. In the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) the Enemy of God will be fighting a religious battle but will have people focus on the politics. I believe the Antichrist will rise from the political turmoil that we are seeing today, persecution and (civil) lawlessness will give him (or maybe, her?) the fodder on which to build a political platform, selling the idea that peace will come about when the world comes together under a single government that has a single economy. The political focus will be created to hide the true, underlying issue- not one religion or another, but the worship of God or the worship of Satan.

Ireland’s history may be a good example of what we should expect to happen in the world. Politics has already become more like a religion than a form of government, in that people are separated in such a hateful, unjustified way that they are at odds with each other and it is currently bordering on becoming physical. I see Americans spending more time trying to prove someone did something wrong in the past than they are trying to focus on improving the future; I see Europe divided and being taken over by extremists; I see people worldwide losing the ability to communicate face-to-face and becoming so dependent on technology that they will be easily transformed into a bunch of robots, walking aimlessly about with their faces in their phones and not seeing where they are heading (physically or spiritually.)

We are a people composed of individuals in an emotional cocoon which actually separates us from everyone around us. Without Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, or the media, people don’t know how to just talk with each other anymore.

In today’s, world, people are not connected to each other unless that connection is through the airwaves, through our TV, the radio, newscasts, or the Internet.

Do you remember what Shaul (Paul) called the Son of Perdition? He is called the Prince of the Air!

One last thing for today: do you recall what Yeshua said about a house divided against itself? America today is a house divided, Europe today (with the Brexit debate) is a house divided, and the only “house” not divided in the world is found within the despotic Communist countries. Islam is quickly taking over the free countries in Europe and had already infiltrated our American way of life and government.

The religious war prophesied in Revelation is already here but it hasn’t reared its ugly head yet. It is crouching in the shadows, and when it strikes out it will not be identified as a religious war but as a political war; I believe that politics is the sea from which the Antichrist will arise.

The battle is (and always has been) spiritual but it will appear to be political, and now that you know this you need to be alert. Don’t be fooled by political upheavals because it is really the Enemy who is behind them. Stay focused on God, strengthen your faith and prepare for battle by reading the Bible, especially Ephesians 6:10-17.

Thank you for being here, and please don’t forget to subscribe.

Also, I desperately need your help to send Bible materials to poor, rural Ugandans who follow this ministry and are asking for help to be more Torah observant. Check out my Gofundme campaign for them using the link below:

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I look forward to the next time we get together, and until then….L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Psalm 83- Then and Now.

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The Psalms are a wonderful collection of the poetry David created, as well as from other authors. Moses is credited to have written Psalm 90, and 12 Psalms (Psalm 50 and Psalms 73-83) are credited to Asaph.  Asaph was one of the Temple leaders in charge of the musicians during the time of King David.

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It struck me that many of these psalms Asaph wrote don’t seem to be at the time of King David. They talk often of how God has abandoned his people and ask for his intervention to save them from their adversaries.

Here are some examples (all my quotes are from the CJB):

Psalm 74:

(1) Why have you rejected us forever, God? ;

(9-11) We see no signs, there is no prophet anymore; none of us knows how long it will last. How much longer, God, will the foe jeer at us? Will the enemy insult our name forever?

Psalm 79:

(1) God, the pagans have entered your heritage. They have defiled your holy temple and turned Yerushalayim into rubble.

(5) How long, Adonai? Will you be angry forever?

Psalm 80:

(15-17) God of armies, please come back! Look from heaven, see, and tend this vine! (referring to Yehuda) Protect what your right hand planted, the son you made strong for yourself.

 

It is clear to me that the references in these psalms could not have been at the time of David, or even Solomon since the kingdom did not have these issues of abandonment. However, when we consider that the Bible often refers to descendants using the name of their ancestor, even when it is generations later, these psalms could have been written by the descendants of Asaph, who would have been fulfilling the same role in the Second Temple during the time of Nehemiah as the original Asaph did under King David. If this is the case, then the references to God having judged, punished and abandoned the people, with their enemies having taken over, would make sense.

Now we come to Psalm 83. As I read this psalm, I was not transported back to the days of the Second Temple; on the contrary, I was thinking about today.

Verses 5-9 say this:

They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” With one mind they plot their schemes; the covenant they have made is against you- the tents of Edom and the Yishma’elim, Mo’av and the Hagrim, G’val, ‘Amon and ‘Amalek, P’leshet with those living in Tzor; Ashur too is allied with them, to reinforce the descendants of Lot. 

Who are these countries today? They are Jordan, Iraq, and the surrounding countries. The plans they made to wipe out God’s people way back in the time of Nehemiah (about 450 BCE) are still being made this very day. Modern-day attacks are no different than what these ancient civilizations tried to do. Today, they fire rockets to kill innocent civilians, they build tunnels to invade the country, and there are even political attacks from European countries (such as the Brexit movement) and the United Nations. There are even attacks from within our own Congress! These recent activities were, and are, intended to do just what the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans tried to do, which is to destroy God’s people.

Yet, Israel remains. And it is not just surviving, but thriving! And where are the Babylonians? The Philistines? The Romans? The Assyrians?

Let’s not stop there: what about the Crusades? The Spanish Inquisition? And, of course, the Nazi’s- where are they all today?  Gone, and what is left of their country is no longer a world power. In fact, some of these countries are barely surviving.

Psalm 83 ends with a request to God to shatter and destroy the enemies of Israel, to let them be ashamed forever, and to let them know that “you alone, whose name is Adonai, is the Most High over all the Earth.” 

I see the End Days approaching, prophecy coming true as the whole world seems to be reviving Anti-Semitism and coming against Israel. This is what the Prophets told us would happen, what Messiah said would happen, and what was revealed to John when he had his vision on the island of Patmos. God is done judging Israel- now he is turning his wrath upon the nations of the world, the Goyim, for their part in all they have done to try to destroy the apple of God’s eye.

We should be calling out to God for his help, but not to stop the terror. Yes, pray for Israel, but not that it finds a peace which men make, but that it finds the eternal peace God will provide for it. That means it must go through the fire, so pray for the trip to be swift.

We are going to be hurt. Israel and the Jewish people, as well as those that support them,  will not be judged, but as the nations are judged the Jewish people will feel the brunt of the hatred that the nations will have for God’s punishment.  It is inevitable, it is no longer coming but has already arrived, and it will get worse! It’s fine to pray and cry for relief, but I recommend you also steel yourself for the coming tsuris. Pray for strength, pray to maintain your faith, and pray that God’s work is finished swiftly.

I do not look forward to the destruction, strife, and evil that will be perpetrated in the near future. No one wants this to happen, but it is God’s plan and I will not turn my face away from God. I do not want to hear someone tell me, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” There has never been a lasting peace between men, so why waste time asking for it? And why even expect that it could happen?

Do the right thing and ask God to send the Messiah so we can have eternal peace, the kind that only God can create.

Thank you for being here, and please subscribe (if you haven’t already); don’t neglect to check out the books I have written. If you like what you are hearing on my ministry website, you will also enjoy my books.  And I always welcome comments and conversation- all I ask is that you be nice.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

How Should We Really Pray for The Peace of Jerusalem?

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In the Gospels, when Yeshua (Jesus) is in the garden praying to God, he asks if the cup can be passed from him. He was asking, “Lord? Do I really have to go through this? Isn’t there a Plan B?”

And the answer he gave himself was, “Thy will be done.”

Do you know where we commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem? Nowhere. There is nowhere in the Bible we are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The Torah is where we find God’s instructions and there are none telling us we must pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

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We are asked to pray for the peace of Jerusalem by King David in Psalm 122:5-6, where he says:

For there the thrones of judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper. May there be peace within your walls, and prosperity inside your fortresses.”

This psalm is asking that we pray for peace in Jerusalem so that there is peace in the house of David, and also in the house of Adonai.

Since its formation as a state in 1948, Israel (and Jerusalem as its capital) has been attacked daily by her enemies, which surround her on all sides. These attacks aren’t just military or terroristic; Israel is also being attacked economically, it is being lied about in the media, and it’s people are attacked throughout the European nations through anti-Semitic activities, such as in France and many former Soviet Union states, to name a few.

Even in the Congress of the United States, there is a New York Representative who is blatantly anti-Semitic! New York has always had a tremendously large Jewish population, yet here is a New Yorker who is obviously against Israel. Let’s not forget to mention there are some representatives from other states who also demonstrate a public persona that is anti-Semitic.

With regards to Jerusalem and Israel, we have prayed and prayed until our tallitot are frayed, and yet there is no peace. Is God ignoring his people? Does God want the enemies of the Jews to succeed?  Are we praying the wrong way?

I believe we are praying the wrong way, or maybe I should rephrase that: I believe we are praying for the wrong kind of peace.

First off, let’s all see if we can agree on this: whatever God wants to happen, will happen. Are we all OK with that? Good.

Next, let’s see what God intends for Jerusalem and Israel, so we know what he wants to happen:

Zechariah 12:3– On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.

Luke 21:24– Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Isaiah 34:1-2- For the Lord’s anger is against all the nations. And His anger is against all their armies. He has destroyed all of them. He has given them over to be killed.

Revelation 21:1-3– Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

 

These are just a few of the many verses telling about Jerusalem and Israel in the End Days, called the Acharit HaYamim.  God has punished Israel for her sins, and since the re-establishment of the State of Israel, the regathering promised throughout the Tanakh by nearly every prophet has been underway. The time of Israel’s punishment is over, and the time for the punishment of the nations is starting.

However, that doesn’t mean Israel is going to have peace- not yet.

God’s plan is that all the nations of the earth will come against Israel, and when the end of Israel seems to be certain, Messiah Yeshua will return, land on Mount Carmel and then (as we Marines say) he will kick butt and take names.

And when he kicks butt there won’t be any names left to take.

God’s plan for Israel is that it be attacked and decimated, nearly to the point of total destruction. We don’t have to like it, but that is what it is. He had the same plan for Messiah, who was insulted, beaten, whipped, tortured, and crucified. Israel will have to undergo the same treatment, and just like her Messiah, who rose triumphant and resurrected in a perfect body, Israel and Jerusalem will also be resurrected as a perfect place, and we will live in the presence of God, forever.

We should be following Yeshua’s example of praying, which means not praying for the avoidance of the terrible things to happen, but for God’s will to be done. We should not pray for the peace that men design, for we have seen throughout the history of Mankind that the peace men create is not lasting. Forget about peace with Jordan, or Syria, or any other nations. It ain’t in the cards!  Pray that the attacks against Israel and her people be ended by the return of Messiah.

That is the way I pray for the peace of Jerusalem: I pray that Messiah’s return happens swiftly because that is the only thing that will bring everlasting peace to Jerusalem.

We cannot go against the plan of God, and his plan is that Israel is attacked until it is nearly destroyed. We can’t stop that and we shouldn’t- it is what God wants, therefore I say we must not pray against it but for it to be done speedily so that the fewest number of people will have to suffer.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but not for a man-made peace, which is a waste of time. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem that God has planned for it by praying for the speedy return of Messiah Yeshua.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share this message to everyone you know who believes in God. I welcome your comments, just be nice, and until next time…L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

More Gloom and Doom to Report

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I feel a little like Jeremiah; he never had anything really good to talk about, either.

I was reading the paper this morning and decided that I should add a new viewpoint to my messages- showing where God is NOT in the news. I believe by seeing where we leave God out of our society we can get a better idea of where we need to add Him back in.

So, in this light, today I was reading about the aftermath of the mass shooting on this past Valentine’s Day here in Florida. Governor Scott has called a roundtable committee to discuss different actions that we should take to help prevent this sort of atrocity from happening. Here’s one thing that really scared me about the report: a psychologist from Florida State University College of Medicine has stated that by looking at the family history we may be able to predict the mental illness of the child and proactively act upon that. The paper reported she said that we can “predict pretty well which families will have this forward trajectory even before the child is born.”

I don’t know about you, but that scares the HE(double-hockey-sticks) out of me. Someone will be evaluating pregnant women and determine that the child will be mentally ill?  Who can do that? And if they do, then what? Should the child be placed in a program for the mentally ill and/or have his (or her) rights restricted? Does that sound good to you?

I also read today that yesterday in a Florida middle school some students were making jokes about shooting up the school. It was heard, reported and those two boys were taken into custody by the police. Now, what they did was totally stupid (if I was “PC” I would have said “inappropriate”, but it was STUPID), yet these are middle school aged boys- stupid is what we are at that age. I believe they should have been chewed out by the Principal and their parents should have been called in to take them home for that day. Do you think the school overreacted?  And if you don’t, do you think that in an atmosphere of fear that eventually people will tend to overreact? Isn’t that what history shows us does happen?

What I see happening here is that the government of the United States, at all levels, is advocating that everyone report about anyone who they think is a threat.

Sound familiar?

In major transportation hubs there are signs and announcements telling the people to report anything that they see as suspicious; schools are telling the students to report on anything they see or hear that they think is suspicious; and when we add the recent flurry of sexual harassment charges and the current (pardon the expression) exposure of this problem, more and more people are being sensitized to be afraid of almost anything anyone may say.

Here’s the doom and gloom- it will get worse. This is all a set-up for the enemy to take complete charge of our lives. We cannot overtake this, we cannot resolve it, and we cannot avoid it.

See why I feel like Jeremiah?

The enemy will rule by fear and intimidation, and this will not come from him (or maybe her) directly, but from each one of us. Just like in Nazi Germany, where children reported their parents and neighbors couldn’t were afraid that someone might say something that will get them in trouble, the atmosphere of fear and distrust is exactly what will help the enemy take charge.

This is also the kind of environment where people can “rat out” anyone that they have a personal grudge against.

I am not a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and neither am I a Libertarian, but I am someone who believes what I read in the Bible, and all this makes sense to me as a sign of the events yet to come that we are told about in God’s word. I am not saying there is no hope- what I am saying is that the only hope we have is in God. We must strengthen our faith and help lead others to God and Messiah as things worsen. We need to stop wasting energy, time and money trying to fix what God has decreed will happen, and get to work trying to save as many as we can, while we still have the time.

I am no Jeremiah and I do not profess to be a Prophet, but I do think I am on the right track when I say we need to prepare for what is coming because we cannot get out of the way.

I see the writing on the wall- do you?

Let’s Talk End Times for a Moment

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Thursday is usually a non-posting day for me, but after I did the Crossword Puzzle, Cryptogram, and finished reading the Comics (the only really worthwhile parts of the newspaper) I decided to check out the article about how some psychiatrists say that President Trump is exhibiting narcissistic, sociopathic behavior.

Last November I didn’t think Clinton or Trump were good choices, and the rest weren’t anything to “write home to Mommy” about, either. But I accepted what the country wanted. Of course, since last November all we have heard is that what we got is not what the country wanted but what Russia wanted. Oh wait! Maybe it isn’t what Russia wanted because both Clinton and Trump had secrets with Russia, or was that Obama? No, he was secretly a terrorist benefactor. Or was it…well, I am all confused now. Seems that the last couple of Presidents and presidential hopefuls are all in cahoots with someone, and all are working against the Constitution one way or another.

So I need to ask you: is this the sign of the times? Yeshua said that we know when the weather will be good or bad but we can’t read the sign of the times.

We have a political civil war raging, and racial hatred is rising at an alarming pace. Some of the country’s professional medical associations are now publicly discussing if the president is a narcissistic sociopath, and some of his own people are publicly saying they are concerned that Trump has full and unrestricted access to the nuclear codes, implying they think he might launch a nuclear attack against another country without consulting his Cabinet or Congress beforehand.

Sign of the times? So nu? … when do we start to hear people accusing Trump of being the Anti-Christ? Or has that already happened and I just haven’t heard it yet?

I have no answers, and I have no opinion on whether or not Trump is the Anti-Christ, or if he even wants to be (I doubt he does because I think he already considers taking that job as a step down from his current position.) I don’t have any answers, but I have absolutely no doubt that we are very close to entering the End Times, if not already in the initial phases.

The world is having climate issues (regardless of one’s position on Global Warming, the climate is worsening for whatever reason), hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and social unrest globally. Worldwide terrorism is rising at an alarming rate and the worst part of all this is that the world leaders are doing nothing to stop it. In fact, some are encouraging it by allowing immigrants into their country without concern for their own people’s safety!

Everyone today is a victim of one sort or another, and everything that is wrong is wrong because someone else made it that way. We are so irresponsible, individually, that when you buy a radio the warning label has to tell you not to use it in the bath or shower!  What’s up with that?

And the biggest sign I see is that while the world’s country’s are being attacked by Islamic terrorists from the inside, the United Nations constantly holds up Israel as the reason for this unrest. They accuse Israel of violating human rights, while at the same time ignoring the Arab diatribe about how Israel has no right to exist and all Jews should be killed. The world turns a blind eye to how the Arab countries teach their children (from kindergarten age and up) that it is not only legal and useful to kill Jews, but an honor, and the accelerating terrorism attacks throughout Europe and in America by Islamic terrorists is blamed on Israel!

The bible tells us that in the End Days the entire world will come against Israel; sign of the times?

I have to admit that I am scared. I am ready to fight for God, I am ready to suffer when I refuse to take the microchip, and I am ready to die today in order that I may live forever. I am ready, but I don’t want to see this happen to my loved ones. I don’t want to be separated from those I care about because they take the mark, and I know that most everyone in my life that I love or care about will be in that group. Anyone who says otherwise is putting blinders on their eyes. For me, one of the hardest things to live with is the knowledge that I will suffer, not so much physically as emotionally, when I see my loved ones come against me. And I know what they don’t; they are destroying their eternal soul, and while the suffering I go through is temporary, the suffering they will have to endure will be eternal. That tears me up inside, so I repress it and try to go on without thinking about it.

Sign of the times, my Brothers and Sisters…sign of the times.

I call on all Believers to go to Ephesians 6:10-18 and get into the habit of wearing your armor every day. Many are already used to wearing it, and for those that aren’t, it’s time.

Forget about Eschatological studies, forget about arguing who the Anti-Christ is or might be, and give up worrying about the fate of your loved ones because none of that will make any difference or help you. All that is left today, and going forward, is to wear the armor, double your efforts to show people how much better it is when you trust God instead of people (given the current political and social environment, we have a really good chance of people listening to us now) and prepare yourself for suffering.

Protect your heart, prepare your spirit, and toughen up!

Signs of the times.

 

Freedom through forgiveness

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We all struggle to be free of things that bother us, don’t we? We want to be free of our debts, free from the drudgery of a meaningless job with no future, free of our bad habits, and more than anything, I think, free of our pain. Especially emotional pain.

We can be free of debt through careful financial management, we can be free of a go-nowhere job by educating ourselves and making ourselves more valuable in the job market, and we can free ourselves of bad habits through group rehab.

Many people seek therapy, but to be rid of emotional pain therapy isn’t always the best answer. I believe the best way to gain freedom from your emotional pain is to forgive the causer of that pain.

In my experience people just don’t understand how forgiveness works. They think that forgiving someone makes that person right with God, and by forgiving them it justifies what they did.

Not so.

Forgiveness actually has nothing to do, whatsoever, with what they did or their relationship with God, and has everything to do with your relationship with God.

Yeshua (Jesus) tells us we are commanded to forgive; in fact, in Matthew 6:15 He tells us if we do not forgive on earth then we won’t be forgiven in heaven. That’s a pretty powerful statement; it comes right after He teaches us the way we should pray, which tells us to ask that we be forgiven as we forgive others. That is a statement of cause and effect: forgive me for my sins against Thee using the same level of forgiveness that I extend to those who have sinned against me.

In other words, when it comes to forgiveness, I am asking God to do unto me as I do unto others.

The sinner who has hurt you will have to face God in the Acharit HaYamim (End Days), and your forgiveness of that person will have no bearing on that case. It will, however, be considered when you are standing “on the carpet.”

One of the the fruits of your salvation can be shown through your willingness and ability to forgive others. The end result, the reward (if you will) for doing as God says is the release from the pain. When you forgive, you are released from the pain of that event. Not right away, and not always completely, but it will happen (eventually) and you will feel better.

One “trick” I have learned is to pray for the one who has hurt you. Pray for their salvation because, as in my personal life, someone who has hurt me terribly is also someone that I know is in great pain herself, and needs the love of the Lord more than anyone I have ever met. I feel pity for this person, who will have to face God; and when she does, He will strip the Teflon off her body and all that she has done will come back upon her and stick to her skin like shingles. When you think of that pain and suffering, the emotional futility of having lived a lifetime of being unaccountable, then suddenly and completely, without any means of escaping the truth, have all the things you have ignored and shuffled off as everyone else’s fault come down on your head like a ton of bricks…I can’t imagine the horror and pain that will cause. And to top it off, you get a one-way ticket to Hell.

When you think of it, if you know the love and compassion and forgiveness that God has had for you, how can you feel anything but remorse and pity for this poor soul? The imagery just makes you want to forgive them, doesn’t it? If not, you’ve better do some serious talking with God.

It’s simple- forgiveness is God’s aspirin for the emotional pain of being sinned against.

Take two, and call me in the afterlife.

Stand or sit: it’s all the same to Uncle Sam

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If you follow this blog, you know that I rarely, if ever, get involved in political stuff. But the White House has gone too far, this time.

Within the past few weeks, the White House (i.e., President Obama) has issued a letter to public schools (you can “google” it) that says, essentially, if a student says they are gay or transgender they must be allowed to use whichever bathroom their gender identification makes them comfortable using.

In other words, we will now have 4-5 bathrooms available: one with an image of a man, one has an image of a woman, one is marked “Family”, one has a blue handicap banner, and the last one has a question mark on it.

No medical determination has to be submitted, just a letter from the parent saying Junior isn’t really Junior anymore.

OK- we know from the bible that gender identification issues, in whichever form it takes, has been around as long as gender has been around. It is as much a part of humanity as sin, and will continue to be around until the Day of the Lord is over. Once the final battle is fought, the new Jerusalem is lowered from heaven and all the saved are resurrected, I don’t know if we will even have gender. Maybe at that time we will be beyond gender, beyond sexual activity (that doesn’t sound like heaven, does it? But, well, maybe?) and all of this will be a moot argument.

But until then, we have to live with it. I don’t see this for anything other than what it is- a mockery of God. God made man and woman, separate, distinct and designed to help each other. It is how things are designed in this world- two of the same thing can’t become any more than double what they are- no synergy, no improvement, no change. Two men, two women- only that. Two of the same.

But put a man and a woman together, and you get three things, Not double of the same, but three distinct and unique things. Then you get four, and more and more and more. There is improvement, there is synergy, there is the working of God’a plan.

When we say ‘transgender’, ‘homosexual’ or whatever label we use as an identification that is anything other than what the person’s anatomy identifies him or her as, then we are making a mockery of God’s creation and insulting the Lord who:

“…created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Wait a minute! It says He created them in His image- male and female He created them. Hmmmm??? Does that mean God is both male and female? Is God a transgender? I mean, He identifies Israel as His son but also as His bride, and He is often referred to in the plural throughout the bible. Maybe we should all be transgender, right? Perhaps we should all be mollusks because all mollusks are hermaphrodites. That would solve this whole issue, wouldn’t it? If we were all blessed with male and female anatomies, then there wouldn’t be domestic violence- I mean, really, who would beat himself up? There wouldn’t be rape, there wouldn’t be expensive shoes for women and cheap shoes for men (how come the government doesn’t pass laws dealing with why women’s clothing is so much more expensive than men’s clothing, huh?), and there wouldn’t be any issue with using separate bathrooms.

I don’t think God wanted humans to be clams. He made us human, He made us in His image, meaning above the animals and spiritually aware. His image has nothing to do with sex or gender, and if God had intended for us to be non-gender specific, He would have made us that way. Adam and Eve didn’t seem to have any issues with who each of them was, but somewhere down the line someone got confused.

I am not homo-phobic. I am not a hater of those who have gender identification issues. I am simply a person who believes that what God did was to make us separate so that we would complement each other. He made us to be men and women, and that is what we are. I believe those with gender identity issues are suffering from either a hormonal imbalance, or a mental/emotional issue that represents itself in gender identification. I believe that it is something that can be treated, something to be seen as an emotional or physiological imbalance, and something to be handled respectfully and compassionately.

I have close family members who are homosexual, and I love them. I enjoy being with them, and I don’t tell them how they should be and they don’t tell me. They know how I feel and I know how they feel, but we love each other because we are family, and I can love the person even though I  disagree with their choice of lifestyle. And, yes- I believe it is a choice. That should not insult or bother anyone who thinks it is normal. I choose to accept God, His word and what He says in the bible. If someone tells me they don’t, I am not insulted. That is the one thing that really gets my goat- the hypocrisy of people. If I disagree with someone, it’s horrible and wrong for me to do so, but it is perfectly acceptable for that person to call me a bigot and hateful just because I disagree with them. If they think apples taste good and I don’t like apples, does that make me a bigot? Am I apple-phobic if I say I wouldn’t eat an apple pie if my life depended on it?

The real issue here is that the government has rejected God, again. First we threw Him out of the school when we refused to allow people who believe in Him to say, “One nation, under God” in the pledge of allegiance. In fact, we got rid of the pledge, altogether. Then we threw Him out of the court system when the 10 Commandments were considered improper on a courthouse.

Now we are mocking Him by ignoring the most basic creation of God: gender difference. Sit or stand, it makes no difference to Uncle Sam, you can all use the same bathroom, and at the same time, too!

Do you have a young daughter? A son entering puberty? Do you feel comfortable knowing they may have to share a bathroom with a child of the (physically) opposite gender? Or, worse, at a public building like a Target department store (yes, I understand they have embraced this whole idea) your 13 year old daughter going into a bathroom where there may be a man who is 40?

Do the kids really understand? Children entering and going through puberty don’t even understand their own gender yet: how can they possible make the life-changing decision that it isn’t the right one?

Better get ready, Folks- the end is coming up on us faster and faster every day.

 

Suffer the sins of thy government

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We have heard, over and over (which is a comforting thing for us) that God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. We understand this to mean He is always compassionate, forgiving and merciful.

We also know that His timing is perfect, and all that He wishes to accomplish He will. Throughout history we see God doing what He wants done, using the peoples and nations He wants to use to fulfil His plans.

So, when something works, you keep doing it the same way, right? I always say to my clients,  “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.” Therefore, if God is the same all the time, and what He has done to accomplish His will has worked all the time, then doesn’t it make sense for us to expect that He will do things the same way today He has in the past?

Let’s look at how God has worked in the past:

  1. 1 Samuel 31 (King Saul and his sons all are killed, and Israel is defeated with many killed because of Saul’s sin of offering the sacrifice)
  2. 2 Samuel 24:15 (God sends a plague against Israel for the sin David committed);
  3. 2 Kings 15:29 (first attack against Shomron by Assyrian army because of the sinfulness of their kings)
  4. 2 Kings 17:3 -6 (Second invasion of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria under Shalmaneser and Sargon in 721 B.C, resulting in destruction of Israel and dispersion of the 10 tribes)
  5. Isaiah 37:1 (Assyrian incursion into Judah under Sennacherib in 701 B.C. Jerusalem was delivered, but Assyrian records indicate forty-six cities and 200,150 captives were taken)
  6. Daniel 1:1 (Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon about 605 B.C. Many from Judah were carried to Babylon at that time)
  7. 2 Chr. 12:1 -12 (Shishak, Pharaoh of Egypt, invaded the country, plundered the treasures of the Temple and the royal palace, and destroyed a number of newly built fortresses)
  8. Jeremiah 52 (the invasion and final destruction of Judah by the Babylonians)

This timeline is incomplete- as we read through the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles we read about the punishing destruction that rained on these kingdoms, all because of the sins that the people performed. But it doesn’t say that the people were punished for their sins- it says that the people punished because of the sins of their kings.

In Jeremiah 52:2 we are told:

“He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 3 It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.”

Jeremiah is talking about King Zedekiah, but the wording is the same we read throughout those books I mentioned, throughout the history of Israel and Judah. When the king sinned, the king and all the people were held guilty. In fact, if the king sinned and there were righteous people in that kingdom, they suffered as well. You can read it throughout the bible- the young and the old, the men, women and children, all who lived in the kingdom and under the rule of those kings who were sinful suffered for the sins of their kings and of their kingdom (in other words, God doesn’t seems to be adverse to the idea of guilt by association.)

This is how God has punished those that sin against Him. We are in the early stages of the End Days, the Acharit HaYamim that God promised (through His prophets) would come and which Yeshua talked about to His Disciples. It is no longer time to judge Israel or the Jewish people- this is the time of their regathering to their Homeland.

The judgement is coming upon the Goyim, the Nations; those who have been attacking Israel and/or sinning against the Lord by ignoring His mitzvot (commandments) are the ones coming under judgement now.

The Lord, as I have shown above, historically has punished nations by using other nations to destroy them. Assyria was God’s rod of punishment, and for their sins they were punished by the Medes, who were punished by the Babylonians, by the Greeks, by the Romans, etc., etc., etc. throughout history.

And now it is our turn. America, along with the other major nations of the world, are feeling God’s wrath through terrorism. It is not a large powerful army that is attacking, it is a small, annoying flea. Yet, enough small. annoying fleas can drive a large, strong bull mad.

I would pray that we find and kill every terrorist out there before they have a chance to attack us, whether it be America, or France, or Europe… whomever. But I know that prayer is bound to fail because  it goes against God’s will.

Our country, America, has fallen into sin, and it is our government, our “kings” that have caused this punishment to come upon us. We have rejected God’s word, we have kicked Him out of our courts, we have encouraged and legally allowed sinful relationships, we have literally shaken our fists in the face of God and told Him we don’t care what He says, He isn’t ‘politically correct”, He is a bigot, He is intolerant, He is outdated and His commandments are no longer valid in our “modern” world.

Gee, ya think maybe the Lord is a little upset with that attitude?

I don’t disagree that we should be aware of the political tenor of the day, and I think it is a good idea to be up to date on your current events. Yet, I don’t read the paper (except for the comics and word puzzles) and I don’t follow or listen to the President’s speeches, or what the candidates say. I can glean what is going on just by listening to what I hear around me and on the radio between songs. I don’t follow politics, and the reason for that is simple: I know where it is all going to end up. Like it or not, this country will be punished for it’s sinfulness, we will all, righteous and unrighteous alike, be punished. Just as God causes rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous, alike, so too will the hammer of His justice fall and crush all of us.

That hammer is ISIL, Al-qaeda, ISIS: whatever name these cowardly, murderous psychopaths want to use, they are (and they don’t even know it) the rod of punishment that God (not Allah, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) is using to bring judgement upon the nations.

We can stop them- we have the military might and ability to kick their butts and take no names. All we need to do is set the Marine Corps on these guys and that will be it.

What we really need to do is send an international army against Syria and totally clean it up. If we put an internationally-sponsored government in there by sending in the United Nations army (just like we did in Korea in the 1950’s) we will essentially set up what is a beneficial dictatorship (aw, c’mon- we’ve done it plenty of times before: Panama, Guam, Iran, and many other places you never even heard of) and we will destroy these terrorists. That will put an end to ISIS/L.

But it won’t stop God’s punishment. Once we kill off ISIS/L, another “nation” will arise- it will be the international army we created, which will be the means by which the Son of Perdition will arise and take power.

Mark my words- it may not happen as I describe above, but it will happen. These terrorist attacks will grow and spread, the governments of the world will unite (seemingly in a first-time ever peaceful coalition) to destroy this threat, but the threat is no more than the bait, a lure which will bring the world governments together and allow the enemy to rise to power.

Not a very pretty picture, but definitely not a pessimistic one. Did they call Jeremiah a pessimist? Did they accuse Elijah of being a Debbie Downer? No- they called them foolish, and even treasonous, but not pessimistic.

In fact, my view of the future is very optimistic, because the worse things get, the sooner we will receive our eternal reward. Not good for the non-Believers, but great for those of us who have accepted Yeshua as our Messiah and have the indwelling Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to guide us and comfort us throughout these terrible times.

If you are reading this and haven’t accepted that Yeshua (Jesus) is really the Messiah God promised us, and you haven’t really accepted that you are a sinner (just like everyone else), you need to know that being a “good person” is not going to do you any good. The only way to really be saved from the second death is to accept the gift of grace that God is holding out to you, to accept your own lack of ability to be what God wants, and to ask His forgiveness in Yeshua’s name. And even if you do all that, if you aren’t willing to do T’shuvah- turn from your sins- then understand that asking forgiveness is useless if you don’t really want to try to stop sinning.

The times are only going to get worse, and because the rod of God’s punishment is not selective you cannot possibly know when or where you are going to “buy it.”

I used to sell Revocable Living Trusts. One of the objections I received often was that the person liked the idea and would probably want to have one when he dies, but he isn’t ready yet to invest in it. He wants to wait until a better time.

I would agree- why pay for it until you need it? I would explain the process of  writing the trust and getting all the assets transferred into it so that the family is fully protected takes at least three months. Then I would pull out my calendar, and say, “OK- we know you need three months for this to be done, so tell me when you are going to die and I will make an appointment now to be here three months before that day.”

If you think this “God” thing is probably something you should consider but just don’t feel you need to do it now, or want to put it off till you have more time (after all, we’re all soooo busy, aren’t we?) then make an entry in your calendar for an hour before the moment you are going to die and ask for God’s forgiveness.  I think since you know, absolutely, you are going to die that your desire to be forgiven will probably be an honest one.

Got your calendar out?